December 08, 2011
Mutineer's Interview with Randall Grahm

From issue #8 11/2009 by Alan Kropf

After leaving college, Randall Grahm got a job cleaning up around a wine shop. It wasn't a glorious position, but it put him in contact with some ethereal french wines. Exposure to those wines drove him to the University of California at Davis and then to the Santa Cruz Mountains where he founded Bonny Doon Estate Vineyards.

Mutineer Mag: What's the difference between starting a winery when you did versus starting a winery today?
Randall Graham: Well superficially, it was way easier back then, way easier. The world was more forgiving. There was also more of a multiplicity of styles; things hadn't sort of gelled like there is one correct way of making wine. It's like, "okay, if you make wine this way, you get a 91. If you make it this way, you get a 93; if you just change this thing a little bit." It wasn't business. You did it because you wanted to o it. You liked making wine.

Mutineer Mag: Your early obsession with Pinot Noir in Santa Cruz is well documented. Talk about the pursuit of that obsession and the experience of it not working out.
Randall Graham: I was young. I didn't understand; I didn't know what I didn't know. I didn't grasp how complex the problem was. I thought I had a handle on it. I had no concept-no clue- at how profoundly difficult the problem was, so I just blindly tried to do it, made a couple of mistakes and sort of gave up. I mean, basically, I gave up because the Rhone varieties seemed so much more promising and more appropriate. It beat me, and I just said, "You know what? I'll retreat. I'll fight another day. I'll do it later."

Mutineer Mag: Was that hard to accept?
Randall Graham: All the time, I think it was a little hard, but the Rhone thing was kind of exciting. I was starting to get mentioned, and I guess I was a little intoxicated by the recognition I was getting. There was an article in Wine Spectator, which in those days was a big deal. And then I was on the cover of Wine Spectator, which was silly. Silliness.